Briquets, commonly called "charcoal briquets", comprising combustible carbonaceous material are used extensively for cooking various kinds of meat and other foods on a grill in a manner generally known as barbecuing. When meat or other foods are cooked by barbecuing, the food is typically placed on a grill which is provided over a bed of charcoal or charcoal and wood briquets. The resulting barbecue taste imparted to the meat or other foods cooked on the grill is due in part to the dry type of heat provided by the briquets and also in large measure due to the flavor imparted to the food by the combustion of the charcoal or charcoal and wood in the briquet. Typically, the wood within a briquet (normally in the form of sawdust) provides an aromatic smell and flavor to meat being barbecued and the charcoal within a briquet provides a distinctive charcoal flavor to the meat.
As is known in the art, conventional briquets utilized to barbecue meat or other foods tend to shed ash as they burn and are therefore not suitable for use in a gas or electric grill since the ash would be detrimental to the grill. This has resulted in the use of what is commonly called "lava rock" in lieu of charcoal briquets in gas and electric grills. The lava rock tend to last indefinitely but do not inherently provide any flavor to the meat or other foods being barbecued thereon. In the process of barbecuing on the grill, the only flavor imparted by the lava rock is due to smoke and vapors produced by the fats of the meat or barbecue sauce thereon which tend to fall down through the grill onto the lava rock and be vaporized. The distinctive charcoal flavor associated with barbecuing on a conventional grill is not present in a gas or electric grill utilizing lava rock as "briquets" and a primary heat source other than the lava rock.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of lava rock as a flavor producing material while maintaining its non-shedding character by providing a briquet comprising a clay carrier incorporating carbonaceous material and/or fibrous material therein as flavor producing agents. The clay carrier maintains the integrity of the briquet during combustion and leaves only a hard shell residue after complete combustion of the flavor agents. Although the use of clay as an element in a briquet composition is known in the art of briquet manufacturing, all use known by applicant to date has been in relatively small percentage amounts by weight and for different purposes than that achieved in the instant invention.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,398 discloses a charcoal briquet utilizing an inexpensive binding composition consisting of sodium bentonite clay and a water soluble acid polymer which apparently makes up about one percent to ten percent by weight of the charcoal briquet. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,599 discloses the use of about three percent to four percent by weight of bentonite clay in a rapid ignition charcoal briquet as a retarder to prevent the briquet from burning too rapidly after ignition or from igniting spontaneously.
Another prior art patent is U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,234 which discloses an instantly ignitable charcoal briquet utilizing about 8 percent to 12 percent by weight of a clay such as bentonite, kaolin and the like as a combustion buffer to regulate the ignition of the readily ignitable charcoal briquet. Still, another use of clay in a charcoal briquet is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,402,033 wherein about 1 to 15 percent by weight of a non-hydratable clay is utilized in the briquet composition to prevent plugging of a die face during extrusion of the composition prior to its formation into a briquet.
Therefore, although it is known to utilize a small percentage by weight of clay in a charcoal briquet composition for a variety of purposes, applicant is not aware of a briquet composition utilizing the high percentage by weight of clay utilized in the instant invention as a carrier. Moreover, applicant is not aware of any prior art briquet which utilizes clay in the manner described herein to provide a flavor producing briquet which lends itself to use in gas and electric grills since it does not shed ash as do conventional charcoal briquets.